Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ

...

The air Videl inhaled felt so different as she exited the room which had twisted the realities of time and space, allowing her to travel into a time many years prior. What she had witnessed in that timeline however left her with something of a pit in her stomach.

She had thought herself a competent fighter, somebody whose name would drive fear into the strongest of opponents. When she was actively watching every fighter around her compete at a level which caused the ground beneath them to buckle she couldn't help but wonder about the full strength they had at their disposal, even in defeat. Watching bodies getting thrown into the ground was something she wasn't unfamiliar with by any stretch, often doing it to criminals she was fighting. Watching someone hit the ground hard enough to send debris bouncing into the air only for said fighter to return to the battle with only showing residual signs of damage was astounding. She was under no disillusion that if she were to hit the ground that hard she would not be getting up in any immediate hurry.

That was only a chunk of the fights she was able to bare witness to, not because she hadn;t been trying to pay attention but because the fights were happening at a sight which she couldn't even comprehend. People were actively fighting at a speed which her eyes were unable to keep up with. In the back of her mind, she recalled Marron commentating on the fight between Gohan and her mother, the woman known as Eighteen, and how the two of them weren't going at full strength. Having witnessed what she had, she now knew that the young child hadn't been lying, as much of a boast it had sounded like at the time. There was also the consideration of just how much they had been holding that to ensure that she could actually see what was happening.

That was not to mention what she had bore witness to in regards to the battle against Cell. Or more importantly, the battle which she assumed she had been witnessing. While her eyes had been unable to keep up, she could feel the shifts in atmosphere and the sheer force behind each blow that successfully struck it's target. The commentary from those she had been standing by could only provide so much as at times even those who were far stronger than she was were unable to see what happened in specific moments.

"So did that answer your questions?"

Videl looked over her shoulder at the man who had accompanied her into the chamber. The man who had prevented a strike quicker than she could see from striking her flush. The same man who had then dropped down to the arena below to fight alongside a younger version of himself against a foe who threatened the safety of the entire world. It was such an odd concept to get her mind around but she had seen just that.

"Yes...no...maybe?" she answered slowly not quite knowing where her mind was at. "I'll need some time to think about it."

"Of course," said Gohan calmly, giving her a gentle pat on the back which caused her to shiver slightly at the touch. While she had known that Gohan was powerful, actively having watched him go at such a high level kept her on her toes. She could only imagine how much restraint Gohan put on his body on a day to day basis to not accidentally high five someone through a wall.

"Were you able to beat Cell?"

The stern question came from Piccolo, the green warrior standing nearby imposingly having waited for them to leave the room. Videl couldn't help but notice that in the years since the Cell Games had been, Piccolo did not look as if he had aged a day.

Gohan nervously chuckled, scratching at the back of his head as he did so in a sheepish response to the question that had been given to him. Piccolo seemed to understand enough from that unworded response to scowl before walking off, not even bothering to give another word. "I'm sorry Piccolo," called out Gohan to the retreating form. "I told you that I'm not a fighter anymore."

Videl did well to hide the face of pain that threatened to come across her face at that. She knew from having spent time with Gohan that he was very determined with his studies, more so than anybody she had ever spent time with. When he held such huge amounts of power at his disposal however she couldn't help but feel as if Gohan was actively trying to push his fighting prowess to the side.

Videl couldn't help but compare herself in that moment in time. True, she did try her best at school and if she wasn't called out to help fight crime her grades would probably be a couple of points higher than what they were. In that respect though, she couldn't imagine removing fighting from her life to simply gain a few academic marks. Even though the chief had effectively made it so that she wouldn't be fighting crime, that didn't mean that she wouldn't be training to keep her body ready for when she went back out into the field once more. Still, that was comparing herself to Gohan in the mildest of margins.

If Gohan's strength had truly waned since he had fought Cell as a child, why had he gone away from fighting altogether? Surely he could find someone like Piccolo to keep him on top of his game, at least to a point where while he wasn't getting stronger he certainly wouldn't be getting weaker.

On the flip side of that however was why was Gohan required to be that strong in the first place? Cell was an immediate threat at the time who was threatening the safety of the planet but surely he couldn't have gotten as strong as he did in the time that Cell was around. That meant that there had been other threats beforehand where Gohan had to be strong enough to not only survive but to actively assist in providing victory.

It was mildly terrifying to think that the planet's safety had been determined by someone who at the time was yet to reach puberty.

"Gohan, I'd like to go home," requested Videl, finding her voice.

"Of course," responded Gohan and Videl, without even having to look at him, could hear the smile on his voice. "Would you like for me to help you down to the ground?"

Videl knew that Gohan's question had no malicious intent in it in the slightest. It was just him being genuine. At the same time however, if she were to say no then she didn't actively have a way to find her way back to what felt like the real world. At least not without asking Dende or Mister Popo for assistance and that felt like it would be more awkward than anything.

"If you would be so kind," said Videl, offering herself to allow Gohan to pick her up. Her peer did so with ease, cradling her as he did so earlier and Videl was more than happy to hide her face in Gohan's chest so that he didn't see the the colour in her cheeks.

...

Hercule never liked it when Videl distanced himself from him. It hurt more than any tabloid article or physical strike could ever do to him. While he was seen as the hero to the world, more and more he had come to realise that he wasn't a hero to his daughter. The main problem though was that he didn't know what to do. He had spent so much time pandering to the needs and wants of the general public that in doing so he had distanced himself from his own flesh and blood.

Now though, he didn't know how to go about closing the rift between himself and Videl. She was every bit as stubborn as he was, more so at times. Asking whether or not she wanted to go do something with him like go to the movies or get ice cream would only end in disaster. As soon as they stepped out in public together they would find themselves surrounded by paparazzi and fans taking pictures of the two of them. If he were to act as he did in front of the camera, that would ruin the whole idea of spending time with his daughter.

Said dilemma was now visible by the sheer fact that Hercule now found himself standing outside Videl's door, a single barrier separating him from his daughter. She had returned home some time earlier after spending time with Gohan, whether training or something else he wasn't sure. All he knew was that when she got home, she went straight to her room and he hadn't heard or seen anything of her since.

Oddly enough, after having spent the time that he had with Gohan and having watched him teach the children at the dojo Hercule had come to the conclusion that he was a good kid. It didn't necessarily mean that he liked him by any stretch but at least he wasn't filled with the hatred that he had had originally when trying to get the kid tarnished by the media. If Videl was spending quality time with him, there wasn't really much he could do. Trying to threaten the kid who had defeated Cell would be a laughable tale but he knew, not really sure how but he knew, that Gohan had no foul intent in mind. There was something about him which seemed unnaturally pure but not in a way that warranted a private detective or anything of the sort.

Shaking his head slightly, Hercule recalled why he was standing right here, right now. He wanted, no, he needed to spend some time with his daughter doing something, anything. Clearing the lump that had formed in his throat, his fist rapped at the door. "Videl, sweet pea, can I come in?" he asked.

The silence which immediately followed was deafening and somewhat deflating as Hercule stood there, waiting for an answer. "Come in," said Videl finally, causing Hercule to release a breath that he hadn't been aware he had been holding.

Opening the door, Hercule hadn't been quite sure what to expect but he somehow wasn't surprised to see Videl sitting on her bed, tucked at the head of the bed with her knees pressed to her chest and her pillows scattered around her. Hercule may not have been aware of what had happened but every fatherly instinct he had was telling him to not walk away from this situation.

The first step forward was indeed the hardest but the strides came quickly as he made his way to the side of the bed. "Is there, uh, anything you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Not really," replied Videl, not even bothering to face her father in that moment.

"Alright then," said Hercule as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. "If you don't want to talk, then why don't I tell you a story?"

"If it's about how you won the championship belt, I don't want to hear it," responded Videl. Hercule could understand that statement, he must have told Videl that specific story at least fifty times when Videl was younger.

"I was thinking about a different kind of story, one where I'm not even quite sure of everything that actually happened," started Hercule, noticing the subtle movements Videl made at his chosen words. The world champion did momentarily pause before speaking, knowing full well that what he wanted to tell her could very well shape the future of their family if Videl were to repeat it. Regardless, it was time that she heard the truth. "What say I tell you about the Cell Games? Tell you about what really happened at the Cell Games?"

The pause that followed was tense as Hercule expected any sort of question to be sent his way. 'What do you mean what really happened?' 'Haven't you already told me everything about the Cell Games?' What he didn't expect however was the sentence that Videl did send his way.

"I'd like that."

Those three words confirmed something in Hercule that he had been afraid of. Videl knew something about the Cell Games, something that he had kept hidden from the world as a whole. Whether or not she suspected something or believed that a little bit of what everybody else knew wasn't real it didn't particularly matter. What mattered now was that he told her everything that he could.

So he did just that.

...

Hope you enjoyed.